I'm currently considering purchasing the HarperCollins POD reissue of the last three volumes of HoMe (I do have the Houghton Mifflin editions for these volumes, but the pages are just glued together [and shoddily at that], and the black covers tend to get moldy in no time--partly due to the tropical climate where I live, but then again, I have no such problems at all with vols. 1-9 of my HoMe collection, which are all UK copies [different cover material]).

ANYWAY, I'm just curious if anyone who has purchased the HC POD reissues of Morgoth's Ring, War of the Jewels or Peoples of Middle-earth (or any book in the series really) could tell me how the BINDING is: are these reissues properly sewn (like the first nine volumes of the originial UK release--I've never seen the last three volumes of the original UK edition, but I assume they were also sewn [?]), OR are they just glued together? If the latter is the case, I'm not interested in buying them, since the price seems a bit steep for copies that are really just glorified paperbacks (as so many hardcovers today, alas!)

Also, I assume the pagination is the same as in the original volumes?

And what exact material are the covers made of? Similar to that of the original issue? (I'd prefer that to something fancy like linen, etc, since I tend to have problems with that (mold and such, see above).

Last not least, do these reissues contain the original frontispieces for vols. 10 and 12?